Safety supporting and suspension means



Aug. 16,1949. B. BASSETT EI'AL- 2,479,459

SAFETY SUPPORTING AND SUSPENSION MEANS Filed May 13, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 B. L. BASSETT Q WE; BASSETT L. BASSETT Aug. 16, 1949.

B. 1.. BASSETT ETAL SAFETY SUPPORTING AND SUSPENSION MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 13, 1946 ..n .M W W gwuwwtow B. L. 5435577 W E. BASSETT Patented Aug. 16, 1949 UNITED STAT EsPATENT v OFFICE 1 SAFETY surroa'rmo AND-SUSPENSION Bert L. Bassett, Irvin Louis Bassett, and Willard V E, BassethDetroit, Mich., assignors, by direct and mesne assignments to Safety-scape Gor- 'poration, acor poration of Michigan Ii, Application May [13, .1946, sens n 569,372

each floor .of a building, entirely frornloutside a building. 7

Another object thereof is'to provide an appa 'ratusof compactform, conveniently supportable from a window frame of a building structure,

having parts so shaped, arrangedand functioning that they Permit a personstrapped with a life belt, to descend therefronitq the ground slowly,

safely, and under circumstances that permit halting oppositeany particular window or .part of the building at any height; i

A further object thereof is to provide improved means for suspendingly carrying an occupant of a 'building'exteriorly thereof, in easy, stays of descent to the ground, not only in case of a fire breaking out inside the building, but alsofor the purpose of being lowered down alongside of the building so as to come to rest at will, opposite any window it is desired to clean.

A still further object thereof is to provide, ina device of the kind described, novel mechanism operable by the person being suspendinglyjlowered down outside abuilding, for the purpose of stopping the operation of the lowering mechanism whenever he desires to do so, as well as to start it operating again.

Another object thereof is to provide,-in a :device of the kind described, improved means for lowering and raising flexible means attached to a person, which is flexibly'mounted, for the purpose of conveying the person to the ground in safety who is leaving a'burning building or room thereof, or for the purpose of conveying himoutside the 9 Claims. (obese-157 'drawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

, fIn the drawings,

Wherein similarreference characters designate similarpartsthroughout the respective views,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention partly broken awa i Figure 2 is a crosssection taken through the winding and unwinding reel section of Figure 1, Figure 13 is a-ftop plan view of my invention, partly bro-ken away, r Figure dis a "fragmentary, sectional detail view of the life belt strap; and

Figure 5 is aperspecti-ve view of my invention shown mounted in posit-ion upon a window frame.

In the drawings, which are merely illustrative of our invention, we show all theparts making up the complete assembly. We will first describe the framework of the apparatus. Figure 1 shows the complete unit ready for lowering a life belt,

jWhi-le Figure 5 illustra'tes the manner of supporting this unit for proper functioning upon a building. a

An open ended casing is provided, consisting of laterally spaced-apart plates lll, ll, 12 and I3. A series ofelongated bolts ll'areprovided, which pass through all of "the plates 10, ll, 12 and I3.

They project snugly into a series of aligning spacer sleeves Ila, against which the plates bear frictiona1ly.- Nuts I6 screw upon the free ends for these bolts M and clampthe spacer sleeves Ila against saidplates. The holes in the plates through which the-bolts pass are designated II.

An enclosure for the-device is broadly designated 20 in Figure 5. 5-Her-eis shown the correct mounting for the apparatus. In this finished construction it is seen that a lateral supporting Web 2l'is provided for the casing 20. In Figure lit-is seen that it is proposed to erect the assem- 'bly of parts with the four edges of all the plates 10, 11, I'Z'and l3 disposed diagonally of the horizontal axis; of the device so that l8, lfla desig- -nate vertically disposed fcorners thereof, and I9,

building to any point he desires to reach for performing labor of some'kind. In this connection, two tapesare lowered and raised, to one of which the person is attachedby means of a life belt,

while the other tape moves up and'down with the person who may pull same at will in order to start'his descent 'fromoutsi de the building.

With the above and other objects in view, our

finvention consists in the combinatiom arrange- V v H I v gnent and detailsofponstructionf;disclosed in the 55 trunnion "28; Bysulch rnea ns the'bracket may 'IBadesignate horizontally disposed corners thereof. At these corners the bolts M are positioned. Referring to Figure ,5, it is further seen that thewe'b 21 is formed with hinge knuckles 22, 2s

through which a vertical pintle 2'4 projects, which also has its ends projectin intothe outwardly converging rigid arms-ii, 2 6 of a strong bracket which is operatively' secured to a window frame inside of a room ofa building. The bracket or yoke isfree to swing upon-hinge leafs 3| by means of suitable hinges 2'9, working on a A pair. oil-oppositely arrangedsemi cylindrical readily be swung from inside the room to a point exteriorly of the building to dispose the device for immediate functioning. The window frame is designated 32.

The tackle employedfor the purpose of lowering the person leaving a building by aid of the present apparatus consists of'two spools or reels 33, 34, arranged alongside each other as shownin Figures 2 and 3, the opposing flanges of each or which provide an annular groove-1'35." Wound upon each of these reels 33, 34 are the coils of a tape 33 and 31, of strong,- flexible material. These tapes are wound around; twOJmandrels 38, 39, confined between .t flanges of these spools. A drive shaft 40 is made fast to these mandrels. r

We provide a governor for regulatingthe-rotaflat terminals 56, 51, of the governor band 4|.

tion of these reels 33, 34, not only to contribute V to restraining the speed thereof but also for the purposeof stoppingrotation of the reels altogether. This governor is a friction band 4| which is fixedly mounted in position suspendingly upon plate 53. A braking means is designed to move into engagement with this governor' band cen- I jtrifugally,. and. mayl in,turn, be engaged by this band frictionally. V

The governor andbraking mechanismrcomprise a singleunit. It is composed of a governor'shoeplate 42. Brake lining 43 is secured by screws or fasteners 44 upon the governor band 4|. The integral "lug 45 on this band 4| is hung upon a fastening screw 46 up'on plate I3. The shoeplate 42 has a central hub A] extending concentrically into the drum andhas a spacer boss 48 projecting}.

laterall 'of the plate'. 4 2.

brake shoes '49, '50 have complemental flanges 5|, ez'provided upon the hub:4'|. These governor brake shoesare provided with the complemental oppositely arranged slots 53, 54an d with arcuate recesses '55 which cqincide with hqperiphery of hub 41.

The governor band 4 enclosesthe brake shoes ment with plate 42 ,by means of screws 59 which project through slots 7 53, 54 at the outer ends thereof, and which are threaded into the plate 42.

;- Theunthreaded shanks 60 of screws 59 project directly into the slots while the heads 6| thereof abut the inner faces of brake shoes 49, 50. Shoe guide screws 62 are carriedby the shoes 4:9, 50

which project into slots 53, 54. p a H At the top and bottom oi' the brake shoes 49, 53 i r are a pair of oppositely arranged pins 53.

Contractile springs 64, 65 are respectively secured at opposite ends upon pins 63. They straddle the slit between shoes 49,50, Under centrifugal action of the revolving shoes they are thrown out 7 against the tension of the contractile-springs, at d which times thesprings expand and the shoes crowd against the governor band 4| to restrain disk 10 which serves toconfinethe governor upon.

shaft 69which' alsoabutsth'e fiat boss onhub 41.

I 43, 50. It is a split band having the contiguously mounted straieht..te m na si. fi. :1; 4 lb ln denoted 5B. The brake .ShQes are held in e age- Its head'14 be'arsiagainst a short pressure spring I5 which it confines against terminal 56 of the band, by reason of the fact that this spring embraces bolt 13. The opposite end of the bolt is threaded and receives an adjustable nut I5 which bears, against another pressure spring 17 embracing bolt rod I3, which spring is by this nut A cam is located between the opposite terminals 56, 5'! of the band 4|, and has the diametrically oppositelobes 19, 800i approved shape touching these terminals. The springs I6, I! on bolt I3 have been set so as to exert sufficient pressure to draw terminals 56,51 toward each other a sufficient distance to crowd the band and its brake lining 43 against the two brake shoes 49, 50.

The lobes I9, are formed upon a disk I8 which has a pin SI on one side entering plate I3, and a spacer flange 82 on its other side.

Means for actuatingthe cam are provided. A crank member is composed of oppositely arranged parallelarms 8| and 85. connected by an intervening offset part 84. His seen in Figure 1 that parts 84, 05 are disposedat an angle. to each other. Disk 18 is made fast 'upon pin 8| of the cam shaft 18. A convenient bracket 86 having parallel arms 86, 86a, is mounted upon arm of the bell shaped crank member by a pin 89a in such a manner that the bracket is rigidly disposed at the diagonal position shown in Figure 1.

A pair of rollers 81; 88 are operatively mounted upon the opposing ends of the bracket 86.

It will also be seen from Figure 1 that we provide, directly under the bell crank bracket 84. 85, another arm I3I which at its inner end is rigidly mounted upon the rod. I5 so as not to rotate thereon. At its outer end arm I3I has a pin I34 mounted therein upon which a roller I32 is journaled which has a flange I33. Arm I3! projects forwardly of thelower part of the device.

The winding up mechanism for'the apparatus is as follows. idler gear 90 on shaft 9! meshes with governor gear 12. A smaller gear 92 is arranged on shaft 9| concentrically of gear 90.

This gear 92 meshes with a relatively large gear '93 made fast on shaft-40, this being the ratchet "gear which carries the central ratchet collar or band 94 made faston enlargement 96 of shaft 40. The other cooperatihg ratchet collar or band is a gear I00 made fast on shaft extension 99.

Gear I 00 meshes with gear IOI made fast on a countershaft I04 by spline 93b. A gear I09 is confined between plate 13 and a collar I03 formed on shaft I04. Shaft I04 has an enlarged extension I041; upon which at 93c gear I09 is splined,

and gear I0 I is also's plined on this shaft exten- 1 mm decei 1 s h d-a ainst dis A from ha xt ns o q r va awe rn hic s est eebv alsr w "i was 4;, 1 bushing I05 fits into partition plate I2 and reside of stretch 121 of tape 35.

sitely suspend a person 7 I whose body and under whose shoulders the life saves the stub end Hit or shaft 164. Another s l bushi g 102 tits in pa ition plate 13in which shaft extension 104d is .journaled.

Gear 109 meshes with gear 1 It wh ch s mounted upon shaft enlargement 91 of shaft .40.

A suitable crank arm 111 is provided upon an operating crank handle 11 8. or lever 11'! is mounted upon shaft '40 forthe purpose of winding the reels 33, 3.4.

In Figure 1 it is seenthat stretch 119 of tape 36 extends down from itsreel '33, tangentially of the latter, passes under roller 131 on bracket 86, and over and around roller 88 at 120 so that stretch 12! of this tape hangs down from'roller as. This stretch 88 passesover roller 132 on arm 13! and then hangs down at 121. The other tape 3'! hangs down also, with its stretch 121a along- The stretches or ends 121a and 121 of tapes 31 and 35 maybe taken, as shown in Figure 4, and attached intola suitable clevls consisting of oppothelr inner faces are preferably found with wavy, scalloped surfaces 1'24 between which are anchored, also in wavy formation, the contacting sides of the tapes 31,. 36. Screws 121,a-rethreaded into the jaws 122, gether nestingly. The tapes extend beyond the clevis as at 126 and are then connected to the ends of a life belt, which ends are confined in a bracing slip ring 130, The life -'belt 128, with its closed-tight position on loop 1-33, is operatively attached to the *tapefportions 125. It is thus seen that the stretches 121, 121a of "the two tapes may move in the same direction -in-unison with each other at the same time either up or down according as to whether the reels 33, 34, for 'these tapes are being wound up-or paidout.

The use and operation of "this apparatus is as follows. Normally the apparatus is set'so as to outside a building, around belt IZB'is operativelystrapped. The apparatus, supported as shown in Figure =5, will suspend the person thus strapped onto its two tapes 36,-31, entirely :upon itself, leaving the hands free to engage the side of the b uilding for the purpose of pushing the person away from any projecting, fettering partsof the building. The weight of the body of the person thus held suspended upon this movable mount will -not automatically actuate the reels to unwind same so thepersonmay begin to descend, This is ,because springs l6, l1 lock the governorband 4| tightly against brake shoes 49, 50 by their tension. The person "thus suspended, once he hasdisengaged hlmself from the window threshold, jacketed inthe life "belt 128,- needs only to take hold of -stretch 121 0f-the device and pull downonit forcibly in order'toactuate the mechanism for rotatingwreelsfit,

By doing this he pushes the bell crank lever member 85 rearwardly. Arm 84 of this lever then cranks cam shaft 80 and turns the cam disk 18 effectively. This action makes the oppositely disposed lobes I9, 80, of the cam ride over terminals 58, 51, of the governor band 41 in a. manner effective to push them away from each other. As

arranged clamping jaws 122, l23,which, on

123 for clamping the tapes tosame time in a direction to unwind tapes 3E, 31.

The weight or the body of the suspended person will result in the tapes moving downwardly carrying the person along with same. The brake shoes 49, 55, as soon as the reels show any sli h tendency to speedup unwinding, underinfiuerree of centrifugal motion, spread but with pins or screws 52 in slots 53, 5.4 of governor plate and begin to crowd against the brake lining 43 of the governor band or drum l]. This exerts a desired braking eifectupon the descent of the person.

As long as thesuspendedperson keeps a tight hold upon stretch 1-21 of the lifebelt to hold'i in a pull d d wn elat on to tape 3]. th e l 33, 34 will function to lower him down contin- .uously until he reaches the gropnd. If the person is a window cleaner, carrying strapped to himself also his cleaning implements, he wililet go of stretch 121 exactly at the time during the lowering action of his life belt 128 when he comes opposite to any particular win ow of the bu ldin he desires to clean. This allows springs 16, 1'] to relax, causing terminals ,55, 57!, to forcibly approach, and turning cam lobes 19, 8 d of thedisk 18 to a normally registering position i a vertical plane. This releases tension .on springs 6, {H and tighten the hold of governor band 41 on the brake shoes 49, 50.

It is evident that when it is desired to reset the apparatus for another operation,-;it will be ecessary to take hold of crank handle 11-] and by means of crank 118 turn it to .wind ;up by hand both reels together in order to wind up the coils of both tapes ,36, 31 upon the reels again.

"any. elevation, whether-upon .a building or any other eminence, ina thoroughly (safe manner, .by

;easy stages, step by step,.and also enabling him at any time desired .to stop lowering himself.

Bythus beingableitobe fixedly suspended inposition from a point overhead, he :has free use of 1 both hands for any givenpurpose.

-We do not confine ourselves tothe exact details of construction :herein set aforth save as pointed out .in the appended claims.

-What we desire to claim is:

1. In a device-as described, acaslng, a-winding and unwinding reel therein a human body carrying tape on said reel, a countershaft in said casing having gear connections to said reel, a winding crank for said reel, a stationary governor band on said casing, a pair of oppositely arranged centrifugally controlled brake shoes engageable against said governor band to oppose the speed of unreeling of said tape, an independent spring ass-am pressing means engaging said governor bandto tighten its hold against the brake shoes to prevent rotation of said reel, and manually controlledmeans descending with said tape for rendering said last named means inactive.

2. In a device as described; a casing, a reel =mounted revolvably therein for paying out a life belt as it unwinds, a countershaft on said casing, gearing between the reel'and said countershaft, a carrier fixed to the countershaft upon which oppositely movable centrifugally operable brake "shoes are mounted, a stationary governor band on'said casing having a pair of spaced apart terminals, means resiliently and yieldably engaging said terminals of the governor band for closing said band around the peripheral. edges of said i brake shoes toallow the band frictionally to stop "the rotation of the reel and descent of the life lbelt, and means moving with said'life belt graspableby the descending belt attached person" for 3 opening the governor band relatively to said brake shoes to allow the latter centrifugally to control \the speed of rotation of the reel.

3. In a device as described, a casing, a pair of 'fIBBlS concentrically mounted therein, a pair of tapes wound upon said reels separately, a life belt earried by the lower end of one tape, a counter- -:shaft on said casing, centrifugal braking means controlling the rotation of said countershaft,

{gears interposed between the countershaft and the reels for imparting rotation to the gearsupon rotation of said reels, a governor band with which :said braking means cooperates, a guide supported from said c'as ing having rollers over which the other tape is guided as it unwinds o'r'winds with its reel, means yieldably tightening the engagement of said governor band and said braking means in order to stop rotation of'said reelfand means actuated by pulling the last named tape forrendering said yieldable means inactive.

4. In a device as described, acasing, a pair of reels mounted rotatably therein, a pair of tapes on said reels descending and being elevated'as'the reels unwind and wind, the free ends of said'tapes carrying a lifebeltga 's pl it gov'ernor band having 'radially disposed contiguous terminal lugs, ro- V tatable brake means engageabIe with said governor band, controlling the speed of rotation of said reels, means carried by'said casing applying spring pressure tosaid lugs of'said governor band to tighten the grip of said bandagainst said braking means, and means controlled by pulling upon one "of said tapes for rendering said governor band inactive.

5. In a' device as described, a pair of adjacent reels having a' pair of pendant tapes designed to be lowered and raised as said reels unwind and wind,'acountersh'aft having gearing connectedto 'saidreels'to impart rotation'to said gears upon rotation of said reels, a carrier made fast on said countershaft carrying braking means for said latter shaft, means engaging said braking means for applying friction thereto to stop it from functioning, means engaging the latter means to disengage it from said braking means, and means controlled by one of said tapes controlling the actua- :tion of said disengaging means.

- 6. In a device as described, a fixed governor 8 band-having separable terminals, a life belt lower ing" and; raising shaft, means on said shaft engaging said governoroband frictionally for control ling thespeedof rotationof said shaft, a cam rotatably fixed so. as to project between said terminals of said band, a rod passing through said lugs, springs mounted retainedly at the ends of 'said rod pressing saidterminals against said cam and crowding said band against said means to 10 holdthe latter inoperative, said cam on being actuated rotating to, separate said terminals against the tensionofsaid springs to disengage said band from saidmeans inorder to renderthe first means operative, a crank for actuating said cam, anda tape moving withsaid life belt from said shaft, efiective when pulled upon to actuate said crank. r 7. -In adevice .as' described, in. combination, a two reel rotatable element, tapes raised and low- :ered byvsaid. reels in. unison, a bearing for said :element, a workable cam -mounted in said bear- Y ing a crank onsaid cam of abell crank formation, a roller mounting. at the free end of said crank over which one of said tapes is trained for ui1-mg action, means rotating in time with said element for braking the .rotative speed of said element, means engaging said last named means for stoppingthe operation thereof, and means controlledby said cam for rendering said stopping means inoperative when said tape is pulled. 8. A'safety supporting and suspension means comprising a casing, a-reel member rotatable in said casing, a pair-of tapes about said reel member and extensible from said casing, unwinding means for said reel member including a centrifugal governor, said governor including a pair of separable brake -shoes, a split ring about said brake shoes engageable therewith for limiting the speed of said brake shoes-and said reel member, a ring 40 expanding member on said casing, and means I carried by said expanding member 'engageable "with one of i said tapes for expanding said ring 'upon tensioning of said one tape for permitting the increase of speed of said governor and said reel member. r

9. A safety supporting and suspension means comprising a winding reel, a pair of flexible mem- -'bers engageableabout said reel, a governor operably connected tosaidreel for limiting the rota- *tion thereof, a brake for said governor, and means operatively engaging one of said flexible members for releasing said brake upon tensioning said one *fiexible member. I

i BERT L. BASSETT.

-IRVIN LOUIS BASSETT. WILLARD E. BASSETT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are'of record in the 'fi1e of this patent:

. UNITEVDQSTAT/ES: PATENTS 

